What is BAKE?

The Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) is a community association of Kenyan bloggers and content creators that promotes online content creation & free expression in Kenya.

BAKE connects blogs in Kenya from all areas of interest and expertise. It was formed in 2011 after a series of discussions concerning content creation and consumption of online content in Kenya.

We are at the forefront of everything digital in Kenya.

We carry out several activities:

Digital Training

As part of our mandate, we train bloggers. We train new bloggers on how to blog and we have refresher workshops for older experienced bloggers
that help them to blog better. We also train outsiders on social media and blogging.

We have carried out over 30 trainings with bloggers in Nairobi in different areas ranging from the basics of blogging, advanced blogging, use of social media tools, how to make money online, law and the internet as well as online security. We have had introductory trainings in Nyeri, Kisumu, Bungoma, Makueni, Nakuru, Mombasa, Machakos and Kiambu counties. We have also had trainings and talks in Daystar University, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, JKUAT, St Paul’s University, Multi Media, USIU, Egerton, Nairobits and KIMC.

We also plan to cover other counties such as Kilifi, Eldoret, Embu, Baringo, Kakamega among others. All these trainings are aimed at encouraging youth to create content in their different areas of interest and enable them to be able to make a living through their blogs.

BAKE Chapters

To improve representation outside of Nairobi and in tertiary institutions, BAKE decided to set up regional chapters in Kenya as well as in various institutions of higher learning.

The BAKE chapters are formed in conjunction with the BAKE national office and local bloggers in the respective regions. The chapters operate independently but with supervision from the National office.

We already have one regional chapter which is Kisumu and two University chapters in Daystar University and Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT).

BAKE Awards

We recognize the efforts of exceptional bloggers through the BAKE Awards. The awards seek to reward bloggers that post on a regular basis, have great and useful content, are creative and innovative. These awards represent BAKE’s efforts in the promotion of quality content creation.

We have successfully held the awards for 6 years running since 2012. The inaugural BAKE Awards had 14 categories. The categories have increased every year and the 6th edition which was the held in May 2017 had 23 categories of blogs to award. Voting for the blogs is done on the BAKE Awards site.

iFreedoms Kenya

iFreedoms Kenya, is a program that promotes human rights and media rights online in Kenya. It does so through documentation of important occurrences (threats, events, legislation, important cases) online and on our annual report, public interest litigation, policy intervention, advocacy and training.

iFreedoms Kenya amplifies the voices of citizen journalists on freedom of expression and engagement, utilize art and culture to promote internet rights (artivism)
and continue to document threats to access, privacy and security online in East Africa.
ifree.co.ke

Kenya Monitor site

Kenya Monitor is a citizen journalism website whose main aim is to report on important stories from all the counties in Kenya through use of bloggers and other online content creators.

There was a realization that mainstream media does not necessarily cover all stories especially those of human interest. The growth of the number of internet users in Kenya has also spurred the rise of citizen journalists who are able to capture events as they happen through their mobile phones. Due to the lengthy process of sending images, video footage or stories to media houses, most Kenyans never get to share their witness accounts. We are harnessing the power of the internet and the need by the Kenyan Citizen to share their stories to provide platform that caters for this need. We started with Nairobi, Nakuru, Makueni and Mombasa counties in 2015 and will eventually launch it countrywide.

Kenya Monitor is accepting stories, images, audio and video footage from the public which will then be verified and edited by a team of editors and then published.
monitor.co.ke

Digital Camp

Digital Camp Kenya is a conference organized by BAKE to foster community relations for bloggers in Kenya. Developers, artists, designers and those interested in online content generation will come together for talks, workshops and presentation on blogging, online content creation, citizen journalism and free speech online. They participants also get to network, be involved in team building activities and form lasting relationships. The first Digital Camp took place in November 2015.